A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

Get a sneak peek of the graphic novel version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (Pop Candy)

Coming May 5 from DC Comics, I, Zombie is an intriguing zombie comic that features a zombie gravedigger/private detective protagonist who has to eat brains once a month and feels compelled to fill the requests she gains access to by doing so. Wacky. (Dread Central)

Get inside the head of Brian Keene, author of The Rising and other zombie novels. (Fangoria)

Some Trekkies got a bit more info on the zombie/Trekkie mashup book Night of the Living Trekkies, due out September 4. (Trek Today)

New Jersey gets Monster Mania from March 12 through 14. It’s a convention chock full of zombie-esque guests including Thom Mathews (Return of the Living Dead), Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator) and Bill Moseley (Night of the Living Dead 1990) among many more. Get the deets on Dread Central’s involvement, or head straight to the con’s website. (Dread Central)

Everyone’s making a zombie movie these days. Read all about one student at an art school in Kansas City, Missouri and her zombie film project. (Louisburg Herald)

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

The University of Tulsa is turning March 24 through April 1 into Zombie Apocalypse Week. Events include a session to brainstorm ways to protect the campus in case of zombie outbreak, a zombie-preparedness training session with a Red Cross instructor, a LAN party, movie marathon and more. (The Collegian)

Need to blend in with the undead masses in post-apocalyptic zombie USA? You’ll want to start by learning the language apparently and naturally, there’s a book to teach you how: How to Speak Zombie. (January Magazine)

Two self-proclaimed “horror nerds” debate the merits of Night of the Creeps in video embedded for you below. Or visit Horror Squad for a little background and a disclaimer before watching it. (Horror Squad)

The great science fiction blog io9 reports that there’s a really, really weird sci-fi story about “quantum zombies” in the latest issue of Rudy Rucker’s webzine Flurb. (io9)

There’s a Resident Evil clone game coming for iPhone called Zombie Infection. (Kotaku)

10) Atom the Amazing Zombie Killer – The first of my ten top prospects for the year has a bit of a special connection, since it was made right here in my hometown  and I have covered events related to it for the newspaper I work for (Westword, in case you are interested).  It’s about a guy named Atom who realizes zombies are everywhere who takes it upon himself to stop them and has been described to me as “Night of the Living Dead meets The Big Lebowski.” It looks to be ridiculous and goofy in that oh-so-special Troma way and while I generally find Troma-style films painful to experience, I do have a few favorites. This looks like it could be one of those. In any case I can’t wait to see it, regardless of the eventual outcome. You can follow the movie’s development on the filmmaker’s MySpace page.

9) Exquisite Corpse – It’s a classic story: Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, girl dies, boy goes apeshit crazy and kills other girls in order to make the serum that brings her back for one more day… even though she comes back a little more fucked up every time. This intriguing looking film looks like it may lean a little too heavily on the arty side, but I have high hopes nonetheless. Love, obsession, brutal murder, mad science, zombies … what else can you ask for? No word on a release date, format or anything else, but it is complete and seeking a buyer. Prognosis for it coming out this year is good, I’d say. Check the studio website or Facebook fan page for more info.

8 ) Eaters – It may be a stretch to project this Italian “extreme horror” movie as a 2010 release, since Shock Till You Drop reports it isn’t set to begin filming until June, but this is a low budget Italian gore film — it’ll probably be shot in a month and released a month later. I can hope anyway. This one is a post-apocalyptic story about another mad scientist looking for a cure for zombiism and the two zombie hunters who aid him. There’s a twist, too — let’s just say you should never trust a mad scientist specializing in zombies (didn’t Romero’s Day of the Dead teach us that?). The presence of Uwe Boll’s name in the opening credits gives me pause, but this looks to be just the right amount of cheesy ridiculousness. Check out the studio website for more info and this Dread Central item for a much more detailed (and frankly, slightly spoilery) synopsis.

7) Zombie Culture: Documentary of the Living Dead – This Camelot DarKnight project is listed as 2010 on the website, but it says Development next to it. Word is it was part of Camelot’s EFM lineup, though. What do I know – maybe they were shopping a concept, not a finished product. Anyway, the world needs a good, comprehensive zombie doc, and this promises to be “the most comprehensive documentary ever made on the worldwide longevity of zombie films.” It also promises a chronological format and an “exhaustive feel.” Will it live up to its promise? There’s no telling. In any case, god knows no one has offered me a bunch of money to make one. Until they do, let’s hope this one fills the bill.

6) The Dead – Howard Ford’s zombie apocalypse/road movie set in Africa has slowly wormed its way into my heart and mind. Something about it evokes the classic Lucio Fulci Zombie vibe and that’s a-okay with me. The brutal stills that have been released and this interview with Ford helped solidify my interest. I still wish they had called it something besides The Dead, but whatever. I’m sold at this point. Let’s hope it gets a theatrical release, even if it’s a very limited one. You can get some more info and some nice stills at the movie’s official website.

5) Collapse – I’ve covered Collapse a couple of times in the past (see here and here) and it looks promising. It’s the story of a rural farmer who has to fortify his house and protect his family from the zombie apocalypse. It features a zombie head in a bag. There’s also a ridiculous baseball bat/saw blade weapon. There’s no trailer or anything out yet, as far as I know, but the film’s Facebook page says they are in the editing stage. Let’s hope they wrap it up so we can see how it all came out.

4) A domestic release for REC 2 – Hello, Sony, we need to talk. Seriously. Are you trying to convince me to buy a region-free DVD player (which, by the way, means I no longer have to put up with any of your region-specific shenanigans)? Come on, goddamn it. The U.S. deserves a chance to see this movie! I’m not asking for a theatrical release (although that would be awesome) but for fuck’s sake, how about a bare-bones DVD release, or a Netflix streaming release or other VOD option. Anything? Please? I have no indication that this is ever going to happen, but I dearly hope it does. REC was awesome and at least some of the reports I have heard say REC 2 is even awesomer.

3) George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead -I know that the lucky few who have seen this flick have returned mixed reviews. Whatever. I don’t care. For one thing, I liked Diary of the Dead a lot more than most people did, and this is a direct sequel. For another, it’s George freaking Romero — if you can’t go into one of his flicks with an open mind, you aren’t much of a zombie fan. The story of an island where some nutty types are trying to keep their zombie loved ones safe sounds like a suitably new wrinkle on the story — I can’t wait until April 30 so I can see for myself. You can get updates at Romero’s MySpace page or follow his Twitter feed.

2) Dead Rising 2 – The original Dead Rising (review here) is one of my favorite games of all time. I have equally high hopes for the sequel, and actually wrote a while back about what I think would make it the greatest game of all time. Sure, I am not totally enamored of the weird multiplayer, the outrageous storyline or the goofy crafting system that has you fashioning “paddlesaws” and killer wheelchair contraptions. On the other hand, if you would have told me the first one featured a chance to put traffic cones on zombies’ heads, I wouldn’t have been too excited about that, yet it ended up being quite amusing. Regardless of any concerns, the chance to run rampant in a zombieified Las Vegas is just too awesome to pass up.

1) The Walking Dead on TV – Is this any kind of surprise? I adore Robert Kirkman’s ongoing tale of survival in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. And I have utmost respect for the caliber of serial drama that AMC has been able to produce. I even more or less like Frank Darabont. Add all that up and you have me jumping up and down with glee at the prospect of this show. It starts shooting in May, so there’s every reason to believe we’ll have it on the air this fall. If it lives up to its potential, we are simply talking about the greatest TV show of ALL TIME.

So those are mine. What about you? Vote in the poll below or leave me a comment.

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

The American Quarantine was a shot-for-shot remake of the Spanish REC. Despite this, the sequel Quarantine 2 will have nothing to do with REC 2. I believe we’d already heard this, but it seems more official now. Also, Q2 will reportedly be penned by John Pogue (U.S. Marshals, Ghost Ship), will take place in an airport and looks to be headed for a direct-to-DVD release. (Shock Till You Drop)

The sequel to last year’s young-adult, post-apocalyptic zombie tale The Forest of Hands and Teeth (review here) is called The Dead Tossed Waves and it hits stores today. Author Carrie Ryan talks about it, and more, to her hometown paper. (Charlotte Observer)

A new anthology of zombie short stories called The Living Dead 2 is coming out this September, with contributions from Max Brooks, Robert Kirkman and David Wellington, among others. (John Joseph Adams)

If you’re getting hyped about the new zombie-starring cartoon Ugly Americans, debuting on Comedy Central March 17, this PDF guide to its world will probably entertain you. (Comedy Central)

Tired of shooting at Nazi zombies in your video games? Try shooting at some in the real world. (Kotaku)

Some people who are really into MMORPGs compiled a list of six things they’d really like to see in a zombie MMORPG. (MMORPG)

Kill zombies! Irritate the living shit out of your Twitter followers and lose them by the handful! It’s Tweet Defense, a game that utilizes your twitter activity to power your zombie-killing ability. (Kotaku)

If you’re in or near Belleville, Canada (sorry, can’t be more specific, my knowledge of Canadian geography is woefully inadequate), you can dress up as a zombie (or other monster) and march to support cancer research this July 17. (The Intelligencer)

Alternately, if you’re in or near Louisville, Kentucky, you can sign up to get in on the March 25 meetup of future survivors of the zombie apocalypse. (Palmyran Rebels)

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

The mashup trend takes a hard left into total nerdom with Night of the Living Trekkies, a book about a group of hardcore Star Trek fans facing the zombie apocalypse. (The Independent)

Left 4 Dead and its sequel are both coming to the Mac platform. (Left 4 Dead Blog)

There’s just not enough theater centered on zombies. A Toronto play called Dead End is thus a welcome ray of light in the darkness. (The Strand)

If reading a whole book is just too hard, perhaps this cartoon-pictorial guide to surviving the zombie apocalypse is more your speed. (Ned Hardy)

Some thoughts on the ongoing zombie invasion of the iPhone platform, much of which is generalizable to the pop-culture/media world at large. (Macworld)

In the realm of very specific zombie tips, how about this list of house plants you’ll want to cultivate in the case of zombie apocalypse? (Plants Are the Strangest People)

Practice your zombie-killing skills and win serious apocalypse cred/bragging rights in Cheaper Than Dirt’s latest contest (note: this contest requires/uses real guns). (Cheaper Than Dirt)

The case to change Valentine’s Day to Zombie Awareness Day. (The Hawk Eye)

I’m attempting to assemble an all zombie-themed wardrobe. Fashion Zombie is my weekly post detailing the coolest zombie-themed clothes and accessories I can find. Check back every Monday for another look at the hottest zombie apparel.

Buy the T-shirt version here.

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

Go behind the scenes of Zombieland and get an update on the status of Zombieland 2 in this extensive interview with director Ruben Fleischer. (IconVsIcon)

It looks as if Pet Sematary is being revived for another go-round. The remake will be scripted by Matthew Greenberg, who handled the adaptation for 1408, a movie I was thoroughly unimpressed with. I am unenthused. (Hollywood Reporter)

Strike a zombie pose, photograph it and send it to Michael Moreci and you could be immortalized as a zombie in his upcoming graphic novel Quarantine (no relation to the film of the same name). And win an autographed copy of the final book, of course.

Details emerge on the DVD/Blu-ray release of I Sell the Dead (review here), coming March 30. The only extra is a trailer (are you fucking kidding me?) and you can see the cover now. (DVD Active)

If you’re in Philadelphia, you can catch a zombie double feature tonight featuring One Dark Night (never heard of it) and Bruno Mattei’s Night of the Zombies (aka Virus, aka Hell of the Living Dead, aka a terrible piece of shit that ranks as one of the worst zombie movies ever). Better hurry though — it starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time at the International House. (Geekadelphia)

That's a zombie climbing on the ceiling. Because apparently, zombies do that.

There is so much wrong with the 2008 Day of the Dead remake it is hard to know where to start. For one thing, it has nothing to do with the 1985 George A. Romero film apart from a couple of similar character names and some really fucking stupid references. For another, it’s horribly written and poorly acted. But the biggest problem might just be the spider zombies.

I am a flexible man when it comes to zombies. I can accept running zombies, Rage zombies, gay zombies, intelligent zombies and maybe even the occasional singing and dancing zombie if it’s that kind of movie. But zombies that can jump twenty feet in the air and climb on the ceiling? That’s just fucking stupid. It’s clear the director was just looking to the successful 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake and thinking, “How can we turn things up? The Dawn zombies ran, so mine should be Spider-Man! AWESOME!”

It’s too bad, since they wasted some good actors (notably Ving Rhames, who does almost nothing here), decent zombie make up and effects and a few could-have-been-great action set pieces on such a lousy movie. Not to mention, if you’re going to remake a zombie film from the grand master himself, a modicum of respect is in order — the Dawn remake clearly held a great deal of respect and even affection for the source material, even as they made their own movie. This seemed like no one involved had ever even seen the original — or that they had seen it and they hated it so much they wanted to kill it with fire.

There’s very little plot here, just premise and mindless action. A town gets quarantined by the army due to a weird flu virus. The weird flu virus turns people into zombies. The main characters meet up and try to escape. There are a couple of subplots that go nowhere, a lot of characters that are impossible to care about and those stupid, fucking super zombies. It’s a mess, albeit a decently paced mess full of gratuitous explosions and gunplay.

If you can ignore the dumb-ass spider zombies, the lack of a plot, the horrible characters, mediocre acting, the blasphemy of linking this to Romero and the generally cheap-ass, teen-centric horror movie feel, this has the potential for some very mindless entertainment, especially if you are drunk and have a few friends over to riff on it while it plays. But that’s a lot to ignore — better to just ignore the movie itself.

Day of the Dead/US/2008

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

Creation’s Weekend of Horrors convention Re-Animator reunion just got a little sweeter as Bruce Abbott, who played Dr. Dan Cain, has joined the guest list along with already announced Re-Animator alumni Barbara Crampton, Robert Sampson, Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs and Dennis Paoli. (Dread Central)

There’s a new redband trailer out for George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead. You can find it embedded below. (Bloody Disgusting)

Supposing you can find a place to charge it, your iPhone could be handy during the zombie apocalypse, as long as you use this guide to six apps essential to your survival. (Macworld)

Comedy Central’s new cartoon Ugly Americans, about a social worker who helps monsters integrate into normal New York City life and his zombie roommate debuts March 17. In the meantime, Dread Central has some more info and clips. (Dread Central)

The supposedly awesome REC 2 (I haven’t seen it yet, much to my great sorrow) is coming to Blu-ray … in Japan and Spain. God damn it, Sony, release the fucking thing here already! (Horror Squad)

Check out the inside scoop on Plague, a short film about the horror that occurs in the interim between being bitten by a zombie and turning into one. (Fangoria)

Drawing of your favorite Hollywood stars, rendered as the undead? Sure, sounds like fun to me. (A World on Fire)

Survival of the Dead redband trailer

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

In Ugly Americans, a social worker with a zombie roommate tries to help monsters integrate into normal life in New York. There’s a trailer embedded below, io9 has a few more clips and a more detailed synopsis. (io9)

A super-duper limited edition T-shirt and poster/print featuring an image of the Tarman zombie from Return of the Living Dead went on sale today. They’re by artist William Stout and they’re pretty spiffy. $25 for the shirt, $40 for the print, save $10 if you get both. (Dread Central)

Xbox Live players of Resident Evil 5 can play the latest DLC “Desperate Escape” today, PS3 players will have to wait until tomorrow. Alternately, you can wait until March 9 and get the Gold Edition which has all the DLC bundled. (Kotaku)

A new horror-comedy film called Deadheads, about a pair of zombies that “awake” during a zombie outbreak and decide to go on a road trip to seek one’s lost love, has just ebntered the post-production phase. (Bloody Disgusting)

It looks trashy, cheap and sure to insult your intelligence, but it does have boobies — it’s Zombie Women of Satan, and there’s a NSFW clip embedded below. (Bloody Disgusting)

The cartoony art for the UK DVD/Blu-ray release of Survival of the Dead is out. (DVD Active)

Zombie Women of Satan clip